Latest / Healthier Together: Larimer County's Public Health Podcast / How to Prepare for Wildfires

Transcript

How to Prepare for Wildfires · Healthier Together: Larimer County's Public Health Podcast

• 0:02
  Welcome to Healthier Together, Larimer County's
• 0:04
  public health podcast, where we come together
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  for healthier lives, connected communities, and
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  real conversations. From your local public health
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  team, I'm your host, Tom. And I'm Joanna. Today,
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  we're joined by Ricardo Perez, Public Engagement
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  Manager for the Larimer County Office of Emergency
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  Management, here to talk about wildfires. Ricardo,
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  thank you so much for joining us. Hi, good to
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  see you. Thanks for having me. Is there a wildfire
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  season in Larimer County? Really good question.
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  So I think years back, we usually have had more
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  of a traditional wildfire season in the summer
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  months. But as we've seen in recent years, it's
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  more of a year -long wildfire season now. We're
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  having extremely dry and warm conditions in the
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  winter months, in the fall months. So now we've
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  transitioned into more of a year -long wildfire
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  season with still more of an increased wildfire
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  threat in the summer months, right? The months
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  that are more warm and dry that are typically
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  kind of the mid -year, late spring to full summer.
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  That's the heightened wildfire risk season, but
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  it is really nowadays a year -long wildfire season.
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  Based on current conditions, what... What level
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  of risk for wildfires are we expecting to see
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  this summer? As we've seen in the first, you
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  know, three months of the year, it's been extremely
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  dry, extremely warm. So we've had multiple incidents
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  in which we've had red flag warnings, even as
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  early as, you know, January, February, March
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  in the year. So it has been extremely dry and
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  warm, as well as windy, that are all critical
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  wildfire conditions. So that's what we're preparing
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  for is for the rest of the year. And certainly
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  in the kind of heightened wildfire season, which
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  is the summer, late spring, is to continue to
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  have kind of dry conditions, warm conditions
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  that are kind of those critical wildfire threat.
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  Yeah, from what we can see from what we're preparing
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  and what we're expecting, definitely a heightened
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  wildfire risk year. You mentioned that we've
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  already had some red flag warnings this year.
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  I know I've gotten them. What? Good question.
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  So the red flag warning is sent out by the National
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  Weather Service. So it's a notification when
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  there is, again, heightened wildfire risk, which
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  is low humidity, warm conditions over a period
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  of time, multiple days. So if we've had warm
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  conditions for, you know, more than a few days
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  and we're really low humidity and we also have
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  winds and kind of... In the environment, that's
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  a National Weather Service notification to let
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  people know that there's critical fire danger
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  because of these conditions that have come out.
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  So a red flag warning means that there's all
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  the components in dry, hot, warm weather and
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  maybe wind to have that critical wildfire risk.
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  So it's a notification to let folks know, you
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  know, no outside burning. Limit your areas of
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  recreation if they... involve any kind of ignition,
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  but it's a notification ahead of time to let
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  people know that there's critical wildfire risk
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  and it differentiates from a fire watch. So a
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  fire watch is more the components of dry conditions,
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  warm conditions as well as warm temperatures
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  and winds could be in the area. They could be
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  coming together. What can people do to help prevent
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  wildfires? I think the biggest thing is to Obviously
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  sign up for emergency alerts. That's more on
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  the personal preparedness, but also following
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  local fire restrictions if there are some. Just
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  to limit any uncontrolled burning, no smoking
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  in natural areas kind of thing. So those are
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  good ways to try and reduce the risk of wildfire
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  spreading. So folks can follow kind of your local
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  sheriff, local fire agency guidelines on restricting
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  fire. Obviously things like no fireworks. But
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  also, yeah, if you see any smoke, you can let
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  people know. You can call 911, right, kind of
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  help our first responders. But there's a lot
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  of first responders kind of already preparing
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  and looking to respond. What steps can people
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  take now so that they're prepared in the event
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  of an emergency? Really good question. So we
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  broke it down into three main steps in our office.
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  So number one, kind of sign up for emergency
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  alerts. It's crucial for you to be able to receive
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  the emergency notifications when there is a disaster,
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  an emergency. Number two is kind of make a plan,
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  you know, a personal preparedness plan, a go
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  kit, an evacuation plan with your family or your
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  folks that you live at home with, a communication
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  plan of how you're going to meet up with folks.
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  And then number three, kind of checking on your
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  neighbors as well. So three steps are signing
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  up for emergency alerts. NoCoAlert .org. Sign
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  up for all the emergency alerts in the county.
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  Making a plan. We have a lot of information on
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  our website on making a go -kit, you know, personal
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  preparedness plans on medications, important
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  documents that you can, you know, think ahead
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  and plan if you need to evacuate, planning for
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  your pets, you know, all the personal preparedness
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  things under kind of that making the plan step
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  and then checking on your neighbors, right? You
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  know, if you know that you're in a neighborhood
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  where maybe you have folks that have different
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  needs or maybe folks are working and then there's
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  an evacuation notice. And, you know, is there
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  something that you can help them with or even
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  older adults or youth, you know, that may need
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  assistance? So, yeah, sign up for emergency alerts,
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  making a plan and then checking out your neighbors.
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  You mentioned emergency alerts. How can people
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  sign up for alerts? Folks in Larimer County can
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  sign up for emergency alerts. at nocoalert .org.
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  So that's through the Larimer Emergency Telephone
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  Authority. Once you go to nocoalert .org, you
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  can create an account. It's at no fee, but you
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  can select up to five locations in which you
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  want to receive emergency notifications in, home
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  or your place of work or family or friends that
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  you want to receive notifications in. And through
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  this opt -in at nocoalert .org, you can also
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  share if you have any additional considerations,
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  such as oxygen dependency or need help evacuating,
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  mobility restrictions, things of that sort that
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  can help our first responders respond. Yeah,
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  all that information is at nocolor .org. And
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  folks can also sign up for emergency alerts in
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  different languages through the ReachWell application
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  that folks can download on their smartphones
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  and then they can select the language that they
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  want to receive emergency notifications in in
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  the ReachWell app. translate those emergency
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  alerts. The other way for folks to sign up for
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  emergency alerts that may need American Sign
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  Language is through DeafLink. So DeafLink is
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  the translation service for emergency alerts
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  in Larimer County. ReachWell is the similar application,
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  but for languages other than English. Those are
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  both components of no -call alert. DeafLink translates
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  the emergency notification into An interpreter,
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  that's American Sign Language interpreting through
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  video. And then when folks need that emergency
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  notification, if they have signed up through
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  DeafLink, they will receive that American Sign
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  Language notification. When you sign up for NOCO
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  Alerts, can you choose how you'd like to receive
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  notifications, whether that's through text, email,
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  phone call? Yes. So NOCO Alert and the LIDA,
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  the Larry Remembrance Telephone Authority, have
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  kind of a suite of... multiple ways in which
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  community members can receive emergency notifications.
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  When you opt into emergency alerts at nocoalert
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  .org, you can select kind of text notifications
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  and then the type of notifications that you want
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  to receive. You can also get a call of that emergency
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  notification. So there's different ways folks
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  can receive that notification. And there's also,
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  that's kind of the NOCO alert, emergency alert
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  ways. If folks have also a landline, you know,
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  people may still have landlines if they're in
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  an evacuation area. NOCO alert and LIDO can send
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  notifications to landlines. The specific component
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  there for landlines is people have to be in the
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  home and pick up the phone with the landline
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  to receive the notification. Text notifications,
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  call notifications on mobile phones are better
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  than kind of having to always be next to your
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  landline to receive the notification. And then
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  obviously there's the watching the news media,
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  you know, on television, on the radio. Those
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  are also ways to get emergency alerts. When there
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  is an active emergency going on, where should
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  people go for information? Yeah, so folks should
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  always go to trusted sources of information.
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  In Larimer County, you know, our Larimer County
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  Sheriff's Office shares a lot of information
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  for when we do have wildfires or any kind of
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  emergencies. The Larimer County Sheriff's Office
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  is typically the lead agency sharing incident
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  information. Our Office of Emergency Management
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  at the county usually supports the information
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  that they put out to the public. So Larimer County
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  Sheriff's Office is a great trusted source of
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  information. So is the Larimer Emergency Telephone
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  Authority, LIDA, Larimer OEM, our health department
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  as well. And then Larimer County as a government
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  is also a good source. Others are local fire
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  agencies, local police departments as well. Those
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  are kind of depending on the area that you live
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  in. If you live in Larimer County, Larimer County
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  Sheriff's Office, obviously. And if you live
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  in a specific community within Larimer. your
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  local fire department as well, and police. I
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  know we've gotten questions here at the health
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  department about community -moderated platforms
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  like WatchDuty. How does the Office of Emergency
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  Management interact with WatchDuty, and how would
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  you recommend community members use platforms
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  like that during an emergency? Really good question.
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  WatchDuty we've seen be very helpful for community
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  members. So just in the way that they're sharing
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  information and the speed that they're sharing
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  information, you know, in an incident can be
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  a helpful tool. Absolutely. And I think in our
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  office and kind of our folks that we work with
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  in the first responder world, we'd push folks
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  straight to the source. Like if the sheriff's
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  office is the main agency in command of the fire
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  and they are the lead public information agency.
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  we would suggest folks to go straight to the
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  source. In the event of an evacuation, are there
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  resources available for people with pets or large
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  animals? Yeah, so in the multiple wildfires and
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  emergencies that we've had in Larimer County,
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  we always suggest folks make a plan for their
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  pets. Your pets also need water, food, medications,
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  you know, a kennel, the basic things. folks really
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  should make a plan for their pets as well as
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  kind of their own personal preparedness plan.
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  But in the emergencies we've had, we've worked
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  with the Larimer Humane Society for small animals
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  and pets, coordinate resources for folks that
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  are evacuating, you know, due to wildfires or
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  other emergencies. And then for large animals,
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  we've worked with the ranch to help large animal
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  sheltering. Yeah, that's a big component for
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  emergency evacuations is... pets, large animals.
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  So we work with kind of the partners in those
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  areas to help provide resources for folks. And
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  then what about for people with specific medical
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  needs, things like oxygen tanks or in -home care?
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  Are there resources available to support them
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  during an evacuation? Yeah. So as I was mentioning
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  before with NOCO Alert, to be able to share if
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  you have, you know, an oxygen dependency or mobility
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  restrictions. That's information that is also
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  helpful for first responders, but in the incident
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  where an emergency is moving and maybe there
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  isn't time for first responders to go check on
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  everybody's door if they have shared that they
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  have a medical equipment or medical needs or
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  need help evacuating. That information is helpful,
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  but similar as a personal plan or a pet preparedness
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  plan, folks kind of need to see if they can plan
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  ahead of time for information. for medical equipment,
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  medical needs, energy -dependent needs. But we
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  have information on our website for folks that
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  need to prepare for energy -dependent medical
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  needs. The idea is to help folks with the information,
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  with the resources, and anybody in our Office
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  of Emergency Management can kind of walk through
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  folks that are curious about, what does it take
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  for me to, you know, I have an automatic wheelchair
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  or have... an oxygen kind of situation that I
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  need to kind of live every day? What does that
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  look like? You know, be prepared if I need to
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  evacuate. Folks in our office can help kind of
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  walk through some of the resources, some information,
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  some of the steps to plan ahead, obviously. And
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  signing up with that or additional considerations
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  through NOCO Alert is definitely a great tool.
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  But folks should also kind of start their personal
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  preparedness plan for the same reason that, you
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  know, maybe there's not enough time for first
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  responders. Is there anything people frequently
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  forget during an emergency? Sometimes, depending
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  on the incident, there's not a lot of time to
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  act, right? And maybe you're running on high
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  emotions. And if maybe you haven't kind of outlined
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  your evacuation plan, you may have a list of
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  things that you need to do if you have that evacuation
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  notice. Like gathering things for your peg, gathering
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  your important documents, your medications, a
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  gold bag, you know, close for a few days kind
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  of thing. Those things can start to kind of amount
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  on the list of things that you need to do in
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  an evacuation notice. And if it's a mandatory
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  evacuation, that mandatory evacuation notice
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  is kind of telling you to get your things in
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  and get out of there as soon as possible. So
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  with heightened emotions, a long list of things
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  to do. Folks could kind of forget multiple things
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  depending on kind of what the situation kind
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  of entails. So that's why we suggest folks to
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  try to plan ahead. Planning for emergencies is
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  not urgent, right? If we don't have an emergency
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  right now, it's not urgent. But at the moment
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  that it becomes urgent, it's too late. So any
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  work that you can do ahead of time to outline
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  some of the major things that you could do, maybe
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  put all your important things. near a drawer
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  near kind of your exit of your home. So you can
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  just as you get that evacuation notice, if you
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  need to evacuate, you just go into one place
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  and get the things and go. Are there things people
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  can do or perhaps refrain from doing during a
• 15:12
  wildfire in order to support emergency responders?
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  Again, I think it's helpful for folks in the
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  community to always sign up for emergency alerts,
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  right? If we have different types of emergencies
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  in the county. So the emergency alerts are really
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  specific to the incident and to the emergency
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  happening, right? When we have a wildfire, it
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  may be an evacuation. But if we have things like
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  a winter storm or critical weather that actually
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  an evacuation is not the best, you know, action
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  for community members to take, maybe they need
• 15:45
  to shelter in place, right? Maybe there's a security
• 15:48
  thing happening in your neighborhood. you wouldn't
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  know what to do if you don't receive the information.
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  So that's why emergency alerts are really important.
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  They're real -time information. They actually
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  tell you what's going on and then what's the
• 16:00
  safest action for community members to take.
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  If folks are receiving evacuation notices, that
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  is very helpful for first responders is for folks
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  to evacuate, right? So following the information
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  is really helpful to first responders in emergencies.
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  After a wildfire. Once people are able to return
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  to their homes, what sort of risks are there
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  for the community? One big risk that happens
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  post -wildfire is post -wildfire flooding because
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  of the burn scar. So when the landscape is burned
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  because of the wildfire, any water that falls
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  in that area over the next number of years isn't
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  absorbed as maybe an area that is not burned.
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  That makes it extremely dangerous for any kind
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  of precipitation to not be absorbed and cause
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  flooding. So a big risk from post -fire wildfire
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  is that flooding that we've seen also after Cameron
• 17:00
  Peak in different areas. Other areas are more
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  of the environmental. Food safety things, you
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  know, if you have any chemicals that have been
• 17:11
  burned in your home that could be toxic, working
• 17:14
  with, you know, the local health department and
• 17:18
  folks that are helping folks kind of reenter
• 17:21
  areas that have been damaged by wildfires is
• 17:23
  crucial. We typically in Larimer OEM provide
• 17:27
  a list of resources for in the recovery phase
• 17:30
  of wildfire. Again, to kind of highlight some
• 17:32
  of the risks coming out, some of the resources,
• 17:35
  information that folks could learn to be kind
• 17:38
  of coming back to their homes and know of the
• 17:40
  things that are helpful at that point. Is there
• 17:44
  anything you wish more people knew about wildfires
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  or emergency preparedness in general? Yeah, I
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  think I'll kind of reiterate what I mentioned
• 17:52
  earlier of, you know, planning for emergencies.
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  You can have so many other things, so many other
• 17:57
  priorities throughout your life, which are really
• 17:59
  important. So we have a bunch of community education
• 18:03
  classes, workshops, information on our website
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  and things that we do in our community just to
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  help kind of try and make it easy for folks.
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  You know, everybody has many priorities in their
• 18:16
  life. But again, at the moment where. Emergency
• 18:19
  preparedness becomes urgent. It's too late. So,
• 18:22
  yeah, I'd encourage folks to chat with their
• 18:25
  neighbors, chat with their community, you know,
• 18:28
  their family, friends. Maybe somebody has taken
• 18:31
  an emergency preparedness class at this point,
• 18:33
  willing to share information. But at Larimer
• 18:35
  OEM, we have a kind of a different ways in which
• 18:38
  we can show folks how to prepare for emergencies.
• 18:41
  We have preparedness videos in English and in
• 18:44
  Spanish on our website that kind of show folks
• 18:46
  how to do a go kit. kind of explain the different
• 18:50
  evacuation notices that we have at the county.
• 18:53
  So folks can go on our website and kind of reach
• 18:56
  out to us, anybody in our team to learn about
• 18:59
  preparedness information, but also taking action
• 19:02
  is the best way to be prepared. I've seen that
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  the Office of Emergency Management offers Dare
• 19:08
  to Prepare classes to help people prepare for
• 19:10
  an emergency. Listeners are interested in enrolling
• 19:14
  in one of those classes or want to connect with
• 19:17
  the Office of Emergency Management. Where can
• 19:19
  they go? Yeah, absolutely. So the website is
• 19:22
  larimer .gov forward slash emergency. That's
• 19:26
  our Larimer County Office of Emergency Management
• 19:27
  website. The Dare to Prepare classes are there.
• 19:31
  They're quarterly. There's quarterly opportunities
• 19:33
  throughout the year to sign up, participate in
• 19:36
  those preparedness. And then other jurisdictions
• 19:39
  in the county also have their versions of preparedness
• 19:42
  classes. So any type of preparedness class is
• 19:45
  helpful. So, yeah, there's different options
• 19:47
  throughout the county. Thank you so much for
• 19:49
  joining us, Ricardo. Of course. Thanks for having
• 19:52
  me. Do you have a question about public health
• 19:58
  in Larimer County or a topic you'd like us to
• 20:00
  discuss? Let us know. Email us at HealthierTogether
• 20:04
  at Larimer .org. Thanks for listening, Larimer
• 20:07
  County. Until next week, stay well, stay connected,
• 20:10
  and remember, we really are healthier together.